Saving the planet, like charity, begins at home. This web site is a
"consumer's eye view" of conservation. It describes what we have learned in
trying to make our household less damaging to the environment. By "household" we
mean the way we run our house and also how we travel around.

The danger posed by war to all of humanity and to our planet is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming.

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the UN, March 2007.

Making an ordinary house green could make a fascinating subject for a TV
series.

We quite like the idea of building an 'eco' house
(if we could find a suitable site) but this would teach us less about what can
be done with existing houses. Given that the UK is unlikely to tear down
its entire stock of houses and rebuild from scratch, zero-carbon 'eco-renovation' of
existing houses is where the real
challenge lies.

Our spreadsheet on CO2 emissions and savings shows that it is relatively easy to make quite
substantial cuts in CO2 emissions. Without great expense, inconvenience or discomfort, we have already managed
to cut our CO2 emissions by about 50%. If
the same is true of industry and commerce—which we suspect it is—then, with
the right incentives (provided by Government), the UK should be able to reach
the Government's target of a 60% cut in CO2 emissions much sooner
than the 2050 date that they have set.

In these notes, we have highlighted problems where some
kind of initiative by Government seems to be needed. On an accompanying web page, we have summarised what we think those initiatives
should be.

I find it surprising that every single one of us insures
our home when there is a 0.1% probability—maybe 0.5% probability—our home
will burn down. With something between a 20% and 80% probability of our
planet burning down, we don't insure ... our planet. I find that surprising!

A warmer world won't just be inconvenient. Huge swathes of it, including most of Europe, the US and Australia as well as all of Africa and China will actually be uninhabitable—too hot, dry or stormy to sustain a human population. This is no mirage. It could materialise if the world warms by an average of just 4 deg C, which some models predict could happen as soon as 2050.

To date, 37 MPs in the UK Parliament have signed up to the "25/5" Challenge, to reduce their domestic
emissions of CO2 by 25% within 5 years. To be on the mailing list
for Carbon2Share (newsletter about the "25/5" Challenge and related topics)
please email Colin Challen MP using his online form.